Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction: Memories of the Vietnam War

Part I: International Affairs
1. Bitterness Between the United States and Vietnam, 1975-1980
2. Estrangement and Détente, 1980-1988
3. Normalization, 1989-2000

Part II: Veterans and Vietnamese Americans
4. Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment
5. Vietnam Veterans Memorials and Memories
6. The Vietnamese in America

Part III. Cultural Legacies
7. The Burden of Memory in Vietnam Literature
8. Vietnam Memories Through Film

Part IV
Conclusion: Political Echoes of a War
9. The Living Legacy of the Vietnam War

Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Robert D. Schulzinger is Professor of History and Director of the International Affairs Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Reviews

Thoroughly researched, well written, and persuasive in its conclusions, it deserves a wide readership. Los Angeles Times Book Review

Schulzinger, a history professor at the University of Colorado, is trying to cover well-trod ground in a new way. He is competing against hundreds of books about the military, political, economic and social aspects of the Vietnam War, some of which are narrowly focused on just one aspect or on one policymaker; most of which view the war from the U.S. perspective only. Schulzinger, in about 400 pages, attempts to examine all the aspects, the psychologies of numerous policy-makers, and the perspectives of several nations. For readers who desire a relatively brief overview of all that and have not previously cracked a history of the Vietnam War, Schulzinger's book will be a wise choice. But his attempt at comprehensiveness in one manageable volume may make the book unattractive to readers already familiar with some aspects of how the war was conducted. That is because each chapter suffers from the kind of superficiality that often accompanies popularization. Schulzinger says he has incorporated the most recently available unpublished material from repositories in European nations, Canada and the United States. That may be true, but it is difficult to tell from his text or from his endnotes what is indeed new. Most of the sourcing, while solid, is not fresh, and in any case, the preponderance of the interpretations and conclusions are based on secondary sources. Schulzinger is working on a second volume, starting with the mid-1970s, intended to explain the war's contemporary legacies in Vietnam and the United States. (May)

Thoroughly researched, well written, and persuasive in its conclusions, it deserves a wide readership. Los Angeles Times Book Review